The Five Most Unhinged Moments at Republicans’ Hunter Biden Hearing
The House tried to hold a hearing Wednesday on whether to hold Hunter Biden in contempt of Congress, but things went off the rails so quickly that not much actually got done.
Instead, the members of the House Oversight Committee ended up taking wild swings at Biden—and at each other.
Here are five of the craziest things that happened during the hearing.
1. Nancy Mace said Hunter Biden has “no balls.”
Things got off to a strong start when Huner Biden himself appeared unannounced at the hearing. For some reason, this set off South Carolina Representative Nancy Mace.
“My first question is, who bribed Hunter Biden to be here today?” she demanded.
“Second question: You’re the epitome of white privilege. Coming into the Oversight Committee, spitting in our face, ignoring a congressional subpoena to be deposed. What are you afraid of? You have no balls to come up here today.”
Mace: You're the epitome of white privilege, coming into the oversight committee, spitting in our face, You have no balls to come up here and --
— Acyn (@Acyn) January 10, 2024
Moskowitz: We can hear from Hunter Biden right now
Mace: Are women allowed to speak?!? Hunter Biden should be arrested right here pic.twitter.com/4Ao8kNbfKm
2. Robert Garcia entered “dick pics” into the House record.
Biden left the hearing soon after Mace’s rant. His exit coincided with Georgia Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene’s opening remarks, much to her frustration. But her Democratic colleague Robert Garcia had a pretty good explanation for why Biden might not want to be in the room.
“I think it’s really interesting to hear the gentlelady from Georgia speak about Hunter Biden leaving, when she is the person that showed nude photos of Hunter Biden in this very committee room,” Garcia said. “Showing dick picks in this committee room of Hunter Biden!”
During a House Oversight Committee hearing in July, Greene tried to claim that Biden had engaged in sex trafficking and had listed payments to sex workers as a tax write-off. To support her argument, she held up poster-size prints of Biden’s nude photos, which she later also posted on X (then called Twitter) and shared in her email newsletter to unsuspecting subscribers.
Garcia: I think it's really interesting to hear the lady from Georgia speak about Hunter Biden leaving and she is the person that showed nude photos of hunter Biden in this very committee room showing dick pics in this committee room pic.twitter.com/QoU2nxZhc0
— Acyn (@Acyn) January 10, 2024
3. Jamie Raskin called Marjorie Taylor Greene an “expert” in pornography.
Representative Jamie Raskin also couldn’t resist a jab at Greene for sharing Biden’s nude photos. Greene asked to enter evidence into the record, and Raskin objected due to the fact that Democrats had not received advance copies of Greene’s information.
“In the past, she’s displayed pornography. Are pornographic photos allowed to be displayed in this committee room?” Raskin asked.
When Greene said it wasn’t pornography, Raskin clapped back, “OK, well, you’re the expert.”
Raskin has previously criticized Greene for displaying Biden’s nudes during a hearing. In July, he accused Oversight Chair James Comer of undermining the committee’s credibility by allowing Greene to show the photos, saying the committee had been “reduced to the level of a 1970s-era dime store peep show.”
House Oversight erupts as Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R) asks to introduce evidence.
— Heartland Signal (@HeartlandSignal) January 10, 2024
REP. RASKIN (D): "In the past, she's displayed pornography. Are pornographic photos allowed to be displayed in this room?"
MTG: "It's not pornography."
RASKIN: "Ok well you're the expert." pic.twitter.com/1WiCSHU5yU
4. Jared Moskowitz held up a photo of Donald Trump and Jeffrey Epstein.
At one point, the committee had to take a break from the hearing. Representative Maxwell Frost said on X (formerly Twitter) the recess was because Greene was “being unhinged.” He did not provide further details on what that meant.
Frost then shared a photo of Representative Jared Moskowitz holding up a poster-size picture of Donald Trump hugging convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.
We had to pause committee because Marjorie Taylor Greene is being unhinged. While we wait, @JaredEMoskowitz is holding this up: pic.twitter.com/5QOp1qBqXK
— Maxwell Alejandro Frost (@MaxwellFrostFL) January 10, 2024
Trump was named on a recently released list of the disgraced financier’s known associates. Republicans have tied themselves into knots trying to shift attention off of Trump and onto other names on the list. (Being named on the list is not proof of legal wrongdoing.)
5. Republicans accidentally gave away their own game.
Toward the end of the hearing, Moskowitz pointed out that if the issue is that Biden won’t testify, it could be easily resolved then and there. After all, Biden was at the hearing.
But when Moskowitz asked for a show of hands from people who wanted to hear Biden’s testimony, almost no Republicans raised their hand.
“I’m a visual learner,” Moskowitz quipped. “And the visual is clear. Nobody over there wants to hear from the witness.”
“The majority of my colleagues over there, including the chairman, don’t want to hear from the witness with the American people watching.”
Moskowitz: Let's vote. Let's take a vote. Who wants to hear from hunter right now today? Anyone? Come on. Who wants to hear from hunter? No one. So I'm a visual learner. And the visual is clear, nobody over there wants to hear from the witness. pic.twitter.com/EpANiLntEb
— Acyn (@Acyn) January 10, 2024
Biden has offered to testify in a public hearing, but Comer rejected the offer almost immediately. He insisted Biden must first sit for a closed-door deposition, infuriating Democrats. Raskin slammed Comer’s response in November as an “epic humiliation for our colleagues and … a frank confession that they are simply not interested in the facts and have no confidence in their own case or the ability of their own members to pursue it.”